Port Angeles man pleads not guilty to sex charges

PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man has pleaded not guilty to third-degree rape of a child and two counts of giving marijuana to a minor in connection with alleged sexual assaults of a 14-year-old boy.

Shawn M. Dawson, 46, arrested May 25, was released from the Clallam County jail June 5 after posting a $65,000 bail bond.

He entered the not-guilty pleas to child rape and distribution of a controlled substance to a minor last Friday during a court hearing before Clallam County Superior Court Judge Christoper Melly.

Melly set a Sept. 7 status hearing for Dawson and an Oct. 2 trial date for up to four days of testimony and jury deliberations.

The boy was raped between Sept. 26 and
Dec. 25, 2016, according to the criminal complaint filed Friday, the same period of time that Dawson allegedly gave the boy a controlled substance — marijuana.

The boy’s grandmother told police he was allowed to do yard work for Dawson at Dawson’s house beginning in summer 2016 and was frequently at Dawson’s house.

The boy said Dawson sexually assaulted him three times, according to a Clallam County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

Dawson said in a recorded statement to authorities that he bought legal marijuana for the boy and gave him alcohol while the boy was at Dawson’s west Port Angeles home but “denied there ever being any sexual contact between himself and [the boy],” according to the report.

Dawson, a Port Angeles bartender, said the boy made the allegations because Dawson had stopped providing marijuana to him.

The boy told Sheriff’s Detective Josh Ley, a forensic child interviewer, that during one attack, Dawson allegedly said, “Don’t do nothing stupid, don’t do nothing stupid, don’t tell nobody or else I’ll hurt you and your family,” according to the report.

“[The boy] had simply replied, ‘Okay’ ” before “he got his arms free, punched Shawn in the face, and pushed Shawn off,” according to the report.

The boy told his mother, grandmother, two brothers, a friend and a school employee about the assault, Ley said.

“I really trusted the guy,” the boy told Ley.

“That’s what really hurted [sic] me because I really trusted the guy, and then that happened.

“I don’t feel comfortable walking anywhere because I feel like I see his car sometimes and I black out.

“I have flashbacks of memories of it.”

Third-degree child rape involves victims ages 14 and 15.

It is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.